


We May Not Have It All Together (but together we have it all)

by Nazezdha321



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Angst, Bobbi is overwhelmed, Daisy does not know how to take care of her surrogate parents, Fluff, Hunter is a good ex-husband/boyfriend, I don’t even know you guys, Shenanigans, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, and disaster, and some feelings, and then it's fun and games and naptime and tantrums, but then everything goes to hell, cherish the humor, child fic, copious amounts of panic, i swear to god i'm not this funny irl, i'm dying like the useless and unprepared idiot i am, it's all fun and games until someone gets de aged into a toddler, may and coulson are having a pretty good time but everyone else is, no beta we die like men, or however you're dying, send help for Bobbi, some science stuff, vagueing the shit out of timelines, yes i actually have a plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:28:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23268484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nazezdha321/pseuds/Nazezdha321
Summary: So you know how there are fics out there that essentially de-age Skye/Daisy into a baby or toddler and now Coulson and May have to take care of her?Yeah, this is that. Except May and Coulson are accidentally de-aged.
Relationships: Minor Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse - Relationship, Minor Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons - Relationship, Phil Coulson/Melinda May, minor alphonso "mack" mackenzie/yo yo rodriguez - Relationship
Comments: 178
Kudos: 193





	1. What. Just. Happened.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The agents of SHIELD wake up to some surprising news.

Jemma quickly walked into the lab. It was four in the morning, and she had just received a quite panicked call from one of her agents, Agent Meyer. 

“Calm down, everything’s fine,” she had said. “Can you tell me what’s going on?” 

“It’s best if you come see it yourself, ma’am,” another agent, whom Jemma recognized as Agent Walker, had intervened, as Agent Meyer was sobbing about how she’d lose her job. 

“What’s going on that’s so urgent you called me at four in the morning?” Jemma asked the agents in front of her, not unkindly, but groggily. She was so tired, she hadn’t gotten dressed or done her hair at all. She’d figured the other agents would understand. 

The assembled agents, four or five of them, stepped back to reveal two sleeping toddlers in extremely large clothing. Their faces were immediately familiar.

Jemma put a hand over her mouth in horror. “Please tell me that’s not Director Coulson and Agent May,” she said. “ _Please_.” 

“They came in here discussing something, and I heard a yell and I turned around, and there they were,” cried Agent Meyer. 

“Where’s the largest meeting space we have?” Jemma asked. Meyer was still crying. Jemma placed a hand on her shoulder sympathetically. “Don’t worry, you won’t lose your job.” 

“How big of a meeting are you calling, ma’am?” Agent Walker asked. 

“Everyone on the base.” 

**\- - -**

“ _That’s Coulson and May?_ ” Daisy shrieked. She had woken up to the ancient PA system announcing every agent needed to be in the hangar for a meeting - every single agent on the base, except for those doing essential jobs. According to the announcement, Agents Johnson, Morse, Hunter, Fitz, Rodriguez, and Mackenzie had to meet in the lab’s conference room (away from prying eyes, Daisy had guessed). 

And then she had seen two little kids who very much resembled Coulson and May sleeping on the floor. 

“Don’t wake them up!” Hunter hissed. “The child Melinda May. She’ll kill us. Melinda May, stuck in a a toddler’s body. She’ll kick all our asses for this.” 

“That’s the problem,” Simmons replied. Daisy turned to her. 

“Simmons, this is already a problem. We don’t need another problem. No more problems,” Daisy begged. 

“I don’t think they remember... much of anything. I’m guessing that May is two and a half years old, and Coulson is around three and a half. We have no idea what caused this, so we can’t exactly... I don’t know how to...” Simmons trailed off. “But their brains don’t show any sign of activity that would lead us to believe that they are adults stuck in childrens’ bodies. They just... are... children.” 

“Hang on a second,” Mack said. “You want to tell the whole base that our Director and his right hand have been turned into toddlers and we don’t know how to turn them back?” 

“No, I want the Director to tell the base that the former Director and his right hand have been turned into toddlers and we don’t know how to turn them back. Based upon the chain of command, and experience, that’s Bobbi,” Simmons replied. 

Everyone turned to Bobbi, who groaned.

“I’m gonna need a coffee.” 

**\- - -**

“Okay. Um, Daisy, everyone likes you, so you get to go out there and tell them that there’s been a change in leadership, and that I’ll explain why. Simmons, you and Fitz get to be my science experts on this and say a whole bunch of words that nobody knows but that make us feel like we’re in good hands. No I don’t care that you’re a biologist or that you’re an engineer,” Bobbi interrupted Simmons’ question.

Daisy sighed. Of course she got to explain change in leadership. 

“What about me?” Hunter asked. “And Mack and Yo-Yo?” 

Bobbi hesitated. “You and Mack get to watch May and Coulson.” At Hunter’s immediate protest, she added, “Toddlers don’t wake up at four-thirty in the morning, I think, so you should be fine. Just in case. I think. Maybe.” Hunter put his head in his hands.

“And me?” Yo-Yo asked, sipping on what must have been her third coffee. 

“You get to go find clothing that actually fits them,” Bobbi decided. “Everyone good?” 

“No,” FitzSimmons said in unison. 

“It’s the apocalypse,” Hunter announced. 

“This is not good,” Daisy admitted, wincing at May and Coulson’s sleeping two- and three-year-old forms. Mack and Yo-Yo nodded in their direction, indicating their agreement. 

“As long as we’re all on the same page,” Bobbi said. Daisy walked out to the hangar, where a microphone and a box were. She stepped on top of the box. The murmuring ceased around her, and Daisy was sure she heard theories including flying cannibals eating Coulson, and various world-ending catastrophes. 

“Sorry to wake you guys,” She began. “First of all, the world is not ending. Sorry whoever bet on that. Second of all, everybody is alive. Again: nobody died. There’s just been a slight change in leadership, which Director Morse going to come out and explain. Hey!”   
  
  


Everyone had started talking as soon as she said the words ‘Director Morse.’ They shut up and turned back to Daisy. 

“Look, Coulson and May are fine, and Director Morse is next on chain of command, so that’s all I’m supposed to explain and I’m gonna go get her,” Daisy finished awkwardly, gesturing to the door. 

“I’m here,” Bobbi said, walking in. Daisy passed her the mic and Bobbi stepped onto the box (not that she needed it, Daisy thought). “Agent Simmons got a call at four a.m. to come down to lab, where it was explained to her that Director Coulson and Agent May had been discussing something in the lab when the on-duty agent heard a yell. The agent discovered that Director Coulson and Agent May have been turned into toddlers.” 

There was silence in the hangar. Then Piper laughed. A few others joined her.

“I’m not kidding. They’re estimatedly two and three years old. You know, little kids,” Bobbi said, indicating with her hand. She sighed. “Agent Simmons is currently the only person who has any idea what’s going on scientifically so I’m just going to let her explain it.” Daisy watched as Simmons carefully stepped up on top of the box. 

Daisy wasn’t really listening as Simmons proceeded to set the world record for confusing everybody, including her scientists, as quickly as possible.

“... but what’s important to remember is that it’s quite possible that we have a way to turn them back,” Simmons finished. “Possibly.”

Daisy sighed. This was going to be a long day. 

**\- - -**

“Okay. We’re working on a way to turn them back, so now we just have to care for them while they’re here,” Bobbi said. “Simmons, May’s two, right? And Coulson’s three?” Simmons nodded in confirmation. 

“I’m expecting them to reach certain milestones to give us a bit more information. My estimate is based on physical features, in which some children can be less advanced,” Simmons clarified. “Two- to three-year-olds reach physical milestones such as drinking from a cup, walking and running, feeding themselves, kicking and catching large balls, washing and drying hands, et cetera. If I’m correct, she’ll also begin to develop socially. She’ll be rather frustrated quite easily, try to mimic adults, show affection for others, and she might begin to play cooperatively with other children. She’ll be able to recognize and name favorite objects, and she’ll recognize people, too. She’ll be quite curious, and she’ll show interest in hidden objects. And, if she’s the age I think she is, she’ll be able to talk in simple sentences with a vocabulary of over fifty words.” 

“And Coulson?” Daisy asked, head nearly exploding with the information that it had been crammed with in the past two hours. 

“Physically, he’ll be able to dress and undress himself in simple clothes, run, jump and climb, balance with increased skill, catch a bouncing ball, perhaps even ride a tricycle. Socially, he’ll begin to share and take turns, and he’ll learn fair play but not competitive play, and he’ll understand differences between what is his and what is someone else’s. His memory should also be improving, he’ll ask questions, understand numbers and some counting, and he should be familiar with common shapes and primary colors,” Simmons listed. 

“So we’re going to try to raise May and Coulson on the base?” Hunter asked. Everyone turned to him. “We’re actually considering raising toddlers on a secret base?” 

“There’s not much else we can do,” Fitz replied. 

“We could give them to their parents while we figure this out. I know May’s parents are both still alive,” Daisy suggested. 

“And Coulson’s?” Mack asked. Daisy fell silent. 

“Both dead,” She admitted. “I guess Fitz is right. But once we get a cure... so we just have to hold out until then.” 

“So we keep eyes on them at all times. Keep them occupied, keep them happy. Raise them like normal, just not... really,” Bobbi concluded. 

“As for playing, May will enjoy simple dress-up - ” Simmons continued.

Hunter snorted. Everyone stared at him. “Sorry. Mental image of May in a tutu. Keep going.” 

“ - toys that can be pushed or pulled or make noises, handling and carrying dolls and stuffed animals, toys that look real, looking at or listening to someone read books,” Simmons said. “Among other things, the full list of which I’m gathering. Coulson is the bigger problem. Based on his alleged age group, he’ll want to interact with other children. But we don’t have any other children, as you know. So we’ll just have to make do and be careful. No games with complicated rules, but games such as Duck Duck Goose are good. So are simple board games, physical activities, making and constructing things, and puppet shows for example.” 

Bobbi sighed audibly. 

An agent interrupted, dashing into the room. 

“Sorry to bother you, but Coulson and May just woke up,” She said, sounding panicked. “And, um... May really wants her daisy. Except I think... I think she means Agent Johnson.” 

Daisy groaned. “She can’t stop embarrassing me even if she’s turned into a two-year-old? Really?” 


	2. Shopping Trip!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> May and Coulson really like Daisy. Also, they go shopping, which brings its own set of challenges.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was not expecting that you guys would like this fic this much! Your support for the last chapter made me so happy!
> 
> Enjoy the shenanigans :D

Daisy had to admit that toddler May and toddler Coulson were pretty cute. 

May was two years old, with big brown eyes and dark hair. Yo-Yo had managed to find her a bright pink dress that went down to her knees, though she couldn’t find any shoes, so May was barefoot. Coulson, on the other hand, was wearing a slightly-too-big red polo and pants, and he had his own socks, but no shoes. 

“I want my Daisy,” May said, pulling on Bobbi’s jeans. 

Bobbi smiled. “She’s right over there, see?” She pointed at Daisy, who Coulson seemed to have already found, as he was sitting on her foot. 

“My Daisy!” May cried, running over to Daisy, who sighed and then put on a smile.

“Well,” Hunter said, “at least she can’t kick our asses for this.” 

“Not yet. Once FitzSimmons turn them back...” Mack replied darkly. 

“Hi, May,” Daisy said, patting her on the head awkwardly. “Do you want me to hold you?” 

“Daisy hold you!” May cheered, hands lifted to the ceiling so Daisy could pick her up. 

Bobbi burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, I just realized...” 

“ - that if we videotape this, we can blackmail them?” Yo-Yo asked, pulling out her phone and taking video of May clinging to Daisy’s shoulder. 

Hunter looked at her incredulously. “You want to blackmail May? How crazy are you?” 

“Actually, I realized that we’re going to have to go shopping with two-year-old May in pink dresses and three-year-old Coulson chewing on Daisy’s shoelaces. Speaking of which,” Bobbi picked him up from Daisy’s shoe. Coulson looked crestfallen. 

“Daisy!” He shouted, hands reaching out for her. 

“Shopping?” Fitz asked. 

Everyone turned to stare at him. Simmons sighed. “Fitz, you can’t possibly expect us to raise them without the proper equipment and materials. They’re children!” 

“They’re a security risk,” Fitz replied. “If we take them out, then we’re risking them exposing the entire base.” 

“Well we can’t just lock them down here,” Bobbi said, wincing as Coulson attempted to finger-brush her hair. 

“It’s a risk we have to take,” Daisy agreed, holding May as far away from her hair as possible. “You may _not_ attack my hair, May, I don't care how cute your puppy eyes are.” 

Two seconds later, she relented. 

“This is not a good idea,” Fitz muttered. 

“Well, I don’t hear any better ones. Simmons, can you make a shopping list?” Bobbi asked, tickling Coulson. He shrieked with laughter. 

“Er... yes,” Simmons said. “Fitz, why don’t we go check on the progress they’re making in the labs on figuring out what happened?” The pair left the room. 

“When we turn May back, she’ll kill us. I vote she stays a two-year-old,” Hunter said. “She’s scary enough as it is.” May glared at Hunter as she hugged Daisy. Hunter backed away slightly. 

“Well, we have to turn Coulson back, and he’ll makes us turn May back,” Mack reasoned. 

“Hunter, why don’t you go make sure the Quinjet is child-proof. Or... child-proof enough for a trip,” Bobbi suggested, handing Coulson over to Daisy. “I’ll come with you.” 

“Mack and Yo-Yo and I will watch them,” Daisy said as they walked out.

Coulson waved shyly at May, who waved back. “Aww, lovebirds. You’re getting this on camera, right, Yo-Yo?” 

“ _Sí_ ,” Yo-Yo confirmed. 

“May, can you say hi?” Daisy asked, gesturing to Coulson. 

“Hi,” May said. 

“Coulson, can you say hi?” 

“Hi,” Coulson murmured. 

Daisy squealed with delight. “This is gonna be awesome!” 

**\- - -**

“Remember your covers?” Bobbi asked. 

“If anyone asks, I’m May’s big sister,” Daisy sighed, "and Fitz is my boyfriend. I hate this cover." 

"Me too, I have to fake an American accent," Fitz agreed. 

"I’m Coulson’s dad,” Hunter sighed. 

“And I’m his mom,” Bobbi added. "Though he's staying with my mother while we shop." 

“So I have to be his dad but I didn’t get any of the fun making him?” Hunter asked. Bobbi swatted him. 

“I'm grocery shopping for my college roommates and myself,” Simmons replied promptly, reading her notepad with her notes about this particular cover. She'd explained to Bobbi that she wasn't good at improvisation, and Daisy had confirmed it while giggling. 

“And Mack and I are looking for our son, who is at home with a babysitter,” Yo-Yo finished. 

Bobbi nodded. “Good. Let’s try to meet back at the Quinjet in two hours. Simmons has the a shopping list for everyone... let's see... Daisy, you and Fitz will be shopping for clothing and toys and you have to manage both May and Coulson because they get to have a say in what they wear and what they play with. Sorry about that. Simmons is grocery shopping, as usual, for the entire base, but I think she added some food for them, yeah?" 

  
  
Simmons nodded. "I'm really quite concerned with keeping them healthy and at an acceptable weight for their ages, so I've set up a diet for them." 

Bobbi nodded. "Hunter and I are in charge of 'bathing and grooming,' according to this list, and Mack and Yo-Yo have to get furniture and eating materials." 

"More?" May interrupted, tapping Daisy's shoulder. Simmons turned to look at them. 

Daisy grinned sheepishly and displayed a bag of mini M&M's. "You already had your share, May." May pouted while Simmons glared. 

"Can I have more?" Coulson asked, displaying his share of exactly two mini M&M's. 

"May got just the same amount as you did," Daisy assured him. "Eat your candy." 

"Daisy Johnson: Distributor of Illegal Sweets," Bobbi said, trying not to grin. 

"What makes them illegal?" Mack asked. 

  
  


"Simmons." 

**\- - -**

Jemma sighed as she pushed her grocery cart through the store. It was impossible to find good breakfast foods these days, as everyone in the base ate Pop-Tarts or sugary cereal. She also had no idea what to get for May and Coulson, because May made green smoothies for breakfast on Saturdays (she refused to share her recipe) and the rest of the week she skipped, and Coulson didn't eat breakfast (or at least, not that Jemma had seen). 

"Well, toddlers like yogurt, right?" She mused before selecting strawberry and peach-flavored yogurts, and a few greek yogurts for herself. "Maybe Cheerios?" She put the box of Cheerios in the now nearly-overflowing cart. Grocery shopping for a base full of agents, plus two toddlers, was exhausting. Regardless, it was the toddlers that were proving to be the most trouble. 

After all, Jemma had never raised toddlers before. 

"You need help, miss?" asked one of the store employees with her red vest on. Jemma smiled. 

"No, thank you," Jemma replied evenly, scrambling to remember her cover, and May's teachings on the subject of undercover. But she didn't need it, because the employee walked away to help someone else. She breathed a sigh of relief. 

Jemma walked through the store, looking for any hint of toddler food, though honestly she had no idea of what she was doing. She did, however, come across a section of tea. She had no idea what kind May made, but Jemma figured that she couldn't go wrong with Earl Grey. Even if May didn't drink it, Jemma and Fitz certainly would. 

Jemma checked through her list and the items in her shopping cart one more time before walking to the front to check out. 

**\- - -**

Mack and Yo-Yo were stuck shopping for bedroom furniture. Their first and only stop was IKEA, which was a fifteen-minute drive from where the Quinjet was landed. Yo-Yo picked out two 'junior' beds, and Mack grabbed two 'junior' mattresses. Simmons' list also instructed for them to get quilted mattress pads and waterproof mattress protectors. 

"Mack, Daisy says that May likes the blue sheets," Yo-Yo called. 

"No wonder," Mack muttered, gesturing to the tag. "They're 'sky blue'." 

"So?" Yo-Yo asked. 

"Daisy used to go by Skye," Mack replied.

Yo-Yo grinned. "I keep forgetting that. Also, Daisy also says that Coulson seems to like the Captain America sheets." 

"Figures," Mack said, shaking his head. He grabbed both pairs of sheets, depositing them in the cart, before walking down the blanket aisle.

Yo-Yo immediately shoved a blanket with turtles at him. "Turtle blanket for turtle man."

"We're supposed to be looking for May and Coulson," Mack said, but he was smiling. Yo-Yo took a picture of the shelves with blankets and sent it to Daisy, before looking through the rest of them for more turtles. After five minutes, her phone buzzed. 

"The one with airplanes for May, and the one with palm trees for Coulson," Yo-Yo read. She glanced at Mack. "Palm trees like... Tahiti?" Mack sighed. 

"I dunno, but I did just find two night lights," He said. They were both identical. According to the packaging, they lit stars on the ceiling of whatever bedroom they were put in. "That all?"   
  
  


"You wish. We still have two chest of drawers, two rocking chairs, and two bookshelves to go, and we have to get a mini table and chairs for them to sit in, as well as small plastic eating utensils, plastic bowls and plates, and sippy cups." 

"Why do they need bookshelves? They can't read!" 

**\- - -**

"Why the hell do we need 'no tears' shampoo? May doesn't even cry!" Hunter protested, reading Simmons' list. 

"Yeah, well, until Simmons is absolutely sure that regular shampoo won't hurt them, she wants us to get 'no tears.' On the bright side, it means we get to buy 'Sunny Orange' or 'Strawberry Smoothie,' which one do you want?" Bobbi asked. 

"Why would you put a smoothie in shampoo?" 

"'Sunny Orange' it is," Bobbi sighed, tossing it in the cart. "Do you want to pick out the rubber ducks, or shall I?" 

"Just get the normal yellow ones." 

"Hunter, look, they've got rubber duck-eating sharks!" Bobbi said, displaying the rubber duck being eaten by a rubber shark that was sitting on the shelf. 

"If you get to buy those, then I get to choose..." Hunter looked down the list. "'Hooded terry cloth bathrobes'." 

"Deal," Bobbi agreed, throwing two rubber duck-eating sharks in the cart. They walked down the familiar red-and-white aisles of Target until they found the robe section. "Hunter, look, they've got an eagle!" 

"If you're going for the SHIELD logo, it'd have to be black and gray, not brown and white," Hunter said, but he threw one in there. "Coulson can have one. For May..." 

"This is not Mission: Humiliate-May-As-Much-As-Possible," Bobbi reminded him, but he seemed oblivious. 

"I'm thinking Pinkie Pie, but if you're more inclined to agree to Rainbow Dash," Hunter said, picking the two hooded My Little Pony robes out from the bottom rack.

Bobbi laughed. "Pinkie Pie for sure. Let's go see if they have Captain America toothbrushes." 

**\- - -**

Daisy and Fitz were also at Target, though in a different part of the store. They decided to tackle buying clothes first. Daisy threw in white camisoles and tank tops, as well as a few pairs of shoes, socks, and one pair of sandals. Fitz grabbed white T-shirts, socks, and a shoes, though Coulson kept trying to grab the Captain America slippers. 

"May, do you like the panda or the monkey footed pajamas better?" Daisy asked. Fitz put two monkeys in the cart. Daisy glared at him. 

"One monkey clothing item! One!" Fitz pleaded. Daisy sighed, not bothering to remove the two sets footed pajamas with monkey all over them, and moved on to other pajamas. Coulson, meanwhile, kept picking out various Star Wars pajama sets. 

"You can not have sixteen Star Wars pajama sets," Fitz insisted, "but you can have four." Coulson seemed to find this agreeable. 

"May, do you want this shirt and these sweatpants, or..." Daisy trailed off. Adult May usually wore black sweatpants and a tank top or an old T-shirt, but she had no idea what toddler May liked. 

"Daisy," She said, pointing at a pajama shirt with a dog eating glittery donuts in a daisy field. The shorts also had daisies on them. Daisy bit her lip as her heart melted. She placed the pajamas in the cart.  
  
  


"Okay. Do you want this nightgown, too?" She offered.

May nodded happily, enthusiastically pulling at the purple and blue-colored clothing. "It's pretty!" 

"Simmons thinks she likes that because that color is 'sky blue'," Fitz said with his fake American accent, gesturing to the nightgown as he texted Simmons back. "I don't get the purple though."

"Well, I've seen May wear purple before, so I'm pretty much just going off of that," Daisy said. "See if there's any Avengers merch. He's bound to go for that." Of course, as soon as Fitz found an Avengers T-shirt, Coulson shouted in delight. Fitz winced and tried to shush him. 

"Great. So now we have to find - " Fitz looked through for other short-sleeved shirts, but Coulson had found a Hawaiian shirt. 

"Can I have this please?" he asked. 

"Tahiti," Daisy and Fitz said simultaneously. Daisy sighed and tossed two Hawaiian shirts in the cart. Fitz glanced at her. 

"Well, he said _please_." 

At the end of their shopping trip, they had a mountain of clothing for Coulson and May, as well as several games, nine stuffed animals per toddler, two simple jigsaw puzzles, building blocks and ABC blocks, a few books, some very annoying toddler fake pianos, several cars - including a red convertible - and a toy plane for May, a few giant bouncy balls, lots of crayons and finger paints, and even more toys that Daisy and Fitz had been convinced into buying with puppy eyes and pleading.

As Daisy paid the bill, she realized she had to figure out how on Earth she was going to say no to them. 

**\- - -**

" _How much of SHIELD budget did we spend?_ " Bobbi yelled, looking around the packed Quinjet in horror. 

"You're the one who bought the rubber ducks being eaten by sharks," Hunter said. "Though I take responsibility for all Pinkie Pie merchandise." 

Bobbi groaned. How was she going to explain this to Coulson when he got back? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love hearing what you think! Your comments always make my day :)
> 
> Cheers!


	3. Strawberries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raising toddlers in the base comes with some challenges.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long for me to update! You're welcome to yell at me in the comments if you wish. NOT YOU SANCTUARIA. Anybody but Sanctuaria can yell at me in the comments.

"Melinda May, if you don't eat these strawberries _right now_ , I will never let you watch My Little Pony again," Daisy threatened. Coulson stood up from his wooden toddler-size chair at the toddler-size table. Daisy turned to him. "Coulson, it is _not_ your job to eat May's strawberries for her."

"Ice cweam," May insisted, stamping her foot. 

"We never even gave you ice cream! How do you know we have ice cream?" Bobbi exploded, throwing her hands in the air. Hunter winced and smiled weakly. 

Everyone turned to him. 

"You didn't give her ice cream, did you?" Mack asked. 

"Well, she wouldn't eat her strawberries, so I gave her a little strawberry ice cream on the side," Hunter explained. 

"Hunter, what the hell were you thinking!" Bobbi shouted. 

"Bobbi," Simmons said reprovingly. One of her mandates was a strict limit on anything she considered to be inappropriate language, and Yo-Yo suggested a swear jar to enforce it. Bobbi sighed and passed her a dollar from her wallet. 

" _Ice cweam!_ " May yelled, turning all attention back to her. 

" _Regular strawberries!_ " Daisy shouted back. Bobbi saw Piper and Davis walk in the doorway, freeze at the sight of Daisy and May screaming at one another, then turn around and walk out. 

"Okay, well, May, if you eat your strawberries, then you can have ice cream," Fitz compromised. 

"Fitz, I'm quite concerned with their sugar intake as it is - " Simmons began, but it was too late. May displayed her clean plate, looking smug as Daisy dug ice cream out of the freezer. 

"We can't just give her ice cream every time she eats strawberries," Mack said. 

"I guess we'd better stop feeding them strawberries," Bobbi replied. "Hunter, you're on bedtime for a week." 

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to do that?" Hunter demanded. 

Yo-Yo held out the swear jar. 

**\- - -**

"It's bath time!" Jemma said, trying to look as excited as possible. Coulson happily got up from the table, but May continued to sit, arms crossed. 

"I don't _like_ bath time," May replied grumpily, sitting on the floor. Jemma assumed it had something to do with the fact that Daisy had only given her one meager scoop of ice cream, which resulted in another shouting match that Bobbi ended by threatening to take away My Little Pony. 

"But there's bubbles," Coulson pointed out, "and duckies! And we only ever get to have bubbles and duckies at bath time! So we have to go!" 

"Sharkie-duckies," May corrected. "They're _sharkie-duckies,_ not duckies." But she got off the floor. 

Jemma cheerily led them to the bathroom, internally thanking Coulson. 

**\- - -**

Daisy lept up with a start as Coulson, in a brown-and-white eagle bathrobe complete with a hood, and May in her Pinkie Pie bathrobe charged in from the bathroom, giggling and laughing as water went everywhere. 

"Smile!" Yo-Yo called, and for a second, May and Coulson stopped to grin up at the camera. Simmons ran in as Yo-Yo took the picture, bubbles coating half her head and dripping from the neck down. Fitz ran after her, waving tiny footy pajamas with monkeys on them. 

"Pajama time!" He said desperately. Simmons mouthed _help_ at Daisy and Mack. 

"Come on, let's get you guys dressed," Mack said, picking up one child in each arm. May squealed with delight and Coulson looked fascinated as he tried to touch Mack's head. 

"Good luck, Hunter," Daisy muttered as Mack and FitzSimmons tried to calm down the boisterous toddlers. 

**\- - -**

"This isn't working," Bobbi announced at the team meeting. Hunter had (finally) managed to get May and Coulson to fall asleep, with nothing short of three Captain America picture books and six lullabies sung by Yo-Yo. 

It was 3:04am, and Bobbi could tell that everyone (including her) was about to fall over from exhaustion. 

"I think we're doing pretty good, all things considered," Mack yawned. 

"Fitz, how close are we to changing them back?" Bobbi asked sleepily. 

"We have to find out what caused this first, and then find out if it's reversible. If it isn't, we have... other potential solutions. Right now, we're rendering a 3D model from the camera footage, or we're trying to," Fitz explained. "The angle at which they were standing was - "

"Were they making out?" Daisy interrupted, grinning.

Fitz looked flustered. "No, they were - " 

"They were sharing a drink, except the camera blacked out shortly after they entered the lab with the bottle of what I'm assuming is some sort of alcohol and two glasses. When I was called later that evening... or I suppose early the next morning, there were no shards of glass, no drinks, just them," Simmons concluded. 

"Do we suspect foul play?" Bobbi asked. FitzSimmons shrugged simultaneously. 

"It's possible, but without conclusive evidence either way..." Fitz trailed off. 

"We need to figure this out _now._ I've got the entire intelligence community wondering what's going on, and I can only make excuses for so long," Bobbi sighed. 

"Remind me why we can't just tell them the truth? More minds on the problem, faster solution, no?" Yo-Yo asked. 

"SHIELD is pretty powerful right now, what with Inhumans and 084s everywhere. It'll create a power vacuum," Mack explained. 

"But Bobbi's the director now. She's filled Coulson's spot. Why the vacuum?" 

"I was working undercover for HYDRA shortly after SHIELD fell. We could claim I was undercover, but - " Bobbi was cut off. 

" - but everyone in HYDRA said they were SHIELD, plus you were on Gonzales' ship, which was reported to have gone down, but somehow you made it off. Not to mention the Madagascar mission," Hunter finished. 

Daisy looked mildly intrigued. "What Madagascar mission?" 

Bobbi ignored her and glared at Hunter. "I thought what happened in Madagascar stayed in Madagascar!" 

"That ship sailed when you got drunk in Peru, love," Hunter reminded her. 

"Bobbi got drunk?" Simmons asked. 

"In Peru?" Fitz asked. 

"Enough," Bobbi groaned. "The point is, we need Coulson back." 

"And May. I'm getting sick of sparring with the STRIKE team," Daisy muttered. 

They sat in silence until a voice piped up from the doorway. 

"Ice cweam?" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: the first part with the strawberries was inspired by a real event involving my sister and my grandfather.


	4. Squares Vs. Rectangles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FitzSimmons make a discovery and May and Coulson have their very first argument.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for some toddler angst :(

"You guys want to go see Simmons?" Daisy asked, exhausted. May's new favorite activity was imitating Disney movies. She had poured water all over the floor in the kitchen and then turned down the thermostat overnight to freeze it. She was wearing a blue dress and was trying to be Elsa. Coulson, meanwhile, was supposed to be Sven, except he also wanted to be Captain America, so now he was a reindeer-superhero combination. 

"Simmons!" May cheered. She tugged at Coulson, who was on all fours. "Come on!"   
  


Coulson stood up, then slipped back down on the ice. Daisy picked them both off the ice and (with great difficulty) managed to make it to the door. "Piper, will you take them to the lab?" She asked. 

"Sure," Piper said. "What're you going to do with the, uh, ice?" 

"Quake it into pieces, and melt the pieces in cups in the microwave," Daisy replied, teeth chattering even though she was wearing a coat. Everyone in the base had parkas on because they didn't want to flood the kitchen, so upping the temperature was not an option. May refused to put on her coat but settled for a blue jacket because her dress was short-sleeved and she needed long sleeves to mirror Elsa. "Make sure you keep eyes on them at all times!" 

Piper saluted and held Coulson's hand in her left and May's in her right. "Let's go see Simmons." 

"Can we sing a song?" Daisy heard May ask. Yesterday's movie to recreate was Mary Poppins, and May jumped off the top of the refrigerator with an umbrella singing _Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious_. It was a miracle she didn't break anything. 

"Anything you want, kid," Piper replied, and then they were out of earshot. 

Daisy sighed and went to clean up the icy kitchen floor. 

**\- - -**

"What's this about?" Bobbi asked. She had gotten a call from FitzSimmons, and judging by the fact that Mack, Yo-Yo, and Daisy were there, so had everyone else. May and Coulson were currently being watched by Davis and Piper, and she hadn't heard any explosions yet, so she figured they were fine. 

"I _think_ I've found out how they were de-aged," Fitz said. "Well... sort of." He turned to Simmons.

"We found out the biological process that forced them to change, not necessarily what caused the change," Simmons explained. 

Hunter raised a hand. "I understood none of that sentence." 

"We know what happened to their bodies, but we don't know what made it happen," Bobbi said. "Did I get that right?" FitzSimmons shrugged simultaneously. 

"As we get older, our DNA changes by as much as twenty percent," Simmons began. "Now I'm sure none of you remember the genetics lecture from the Academy, but - " 

"There was a genetics lecture at the Academy?" Mack asked. 

"Of course there was," Fitz replied. "How else did you learn about aliens and their - " 

"Simmons, you were saying that our DNA changes as we get older?" Bobbi interrupted, gesturing to Simmons, who smiled gratefully. 

"Yes, but this change isn't in the A, T, C, and G's of our DNA, it's in our DNA methylation," she continued. 

"You lost me at 'meth'," Hunter said. Bobbi glared and Daisy bit her lip in an attempt to not laugh. 

"You're thinking methamphetamine, Hunter. Methylation affects how our genes are used," Simmons explained. "So a change in methylation changes how genes are used." 

"Okay, but you said it only changes twenty percent," Daisy pointed out. "So how big of a change is that?" 

"Daisy, there are _millions_ of spots on our DNA that are methylated. That could be tens or hundreds of thousands of changes," Bobbi said. Everyone looked at her. "What? I listened to the genetics lecture." 

Simmons beamed at her. "As I said, this pattern of DNA methylation drastically changes as we get older. We know how it changes. Really, it's just putting a methyl group on a C in DNA. That group is put there by certain proteins and also can be removed by certain proteins. When it is removed, it leaves a trace. So we believe that - "

"We believe that whatever caused them to change was able to read the traces and then cause methylation to settle back into that pattern," Fitz finished. 

"Wait a minute," Mack said, holding up a hand. "This... thing changed their DNA?" Bobbi glanced to Yo-Yo, whose eyes were glassed over, and then Daisy, who had her head in her hands. 

"Yes, and that's what caused the biological changes that supported the physical changes, caused by certain triggered certain chemicals that..." Simmons trailed off, looking to Fitz for help. 

"Reverse puberty," he explained. 

"How did you figure this out?" Bobbi asked. 

"We took samples from May and Coulson while they were here," Simmons replied. 

"How do we change them back?" Daisy asked. 

"Until we have whatever device caused this?" Fitz asked. "We can't."   
  


**\- - -**

Mack sighed and walked down the hall to where May and Coulson were (supposed to be) napping. He opened the door as quietly as he could. Coulson was in his bed, tucked in and clutching his Captain America blanket, but May was nowhere to be found. Mack sighed. 

"May!" he whispered. "May! Where are you?" 

There was a giggle from underneath the bed. Mack smiled to himself. 

"I wonder where May is. I guess I'll just have to wake up Coulson and he can go have a snack with me. I guess May doesn't want a snack," he said, then grinned as May rolled out from under the bed. 

"I want a snack!" May cried. 

"Snack?" Coulson asked, yawning and rubbing his eyes. 

"Yeah," Mack confirmed. Coulson and May bounded to the door, and Coulson bent down on all fours. Before Mack realized what they were doing, May leaped on top of him and managed to twist the doorknob. Mack sighed and grabbed his phone. Yo-Yo would want a video of this "Hey guys, can you do that again?" Coulson shut the door and Mack began videoing, and again, May (who was much too short to reach the door on her own) and Coulson (who could probably reach it if he stood on his tippy toes) mastered the art of opening the door. 

Mack chuckled and ended the video before walking with both toddlers down to the kitchen. Daisy had finished de-icing it about an hour ago, and then Bobbi was able to turn the heat up. May had given up on recreating Frozen, though she was still wearing her blue dress. "What's for snack?" 

Mack was a firm believer in the fact that snack was a mini-meal and not something you could eat in a couple bites. Peanut butter on a celery stick was not a snack. Four pretzel sticks were not a snack. A snack was a few blueberry muffins, mini-chocolate chip pancakes, mashed sweet potato with butter and cinnamon, or avocado toast. Simmons wholeheartedly disagreed, and since she was in charge of meal planning, she got to make the executive decision on what was a snack. 

"Applesauce," Mack grumbled, "or..." 

"Or what?" Coulson asked suspiciously. "What do _you_ eat for snack?" 

"We should have grilled cheese sandwiches!" May suggested. 

"That's for lunch," Daisy said from the doorway. 

"Please!" May begged, tugging on Mack's shirt. Mack glanced at Daisy, who sighed. 

"I didn't see or hear anything," Daisy relented and walked over to the pantry to get the bread. 

Mack smiled. "Sure, we can have grilled cheese." 

May cheered and Coulson smiled happily. Mack began to make four sandwiches (one for May, one for Coulson, one for Daisy and one for himself) and Daisy entertained the toddlers.

Before long, questions arose. "I don't get it," Coulson said, frowning. "How come I'm _Phil_ but everyone calls me _Coulson_?" 

"You're _Phil Coulson._ Sometimes people like to go by their last name and sometimes by their first name. I'm Daisy Johnson, and sometimes I'm just Daisy and sometimes I'm Agent Johnson _,_ " Daisy explained. "And some people, like Mack and Yo-Yo, have a nickname." 

"What's your real name?" May asked Mack. 

"Alphonso," Daisy said, grinning wickedly. 

"Daisy had a nickname, too," Mack pointed out. Daisy glared. "Skye." 

"What's May a nickname for?" Coulson wondered. 

"It's her last name," Daisy said. 

"Well, what's her first name?" 

"Melinda," Mack replied.

May made a face. "I think I like May better." Daisy laughed. 

"Do you guys want your sandwich cut into triangles or rectangles?" Mack asked. 

"Rectangles," Coulson said at the same time May said, 

"Triangles." They glanced at each other. "Triangles are better!" 

"But sandwiches are already rectangles, we just make them into smaller rectangles," Coulson replied. 

"No, sandwiches are _squares_ and two triangles make a square!" May argued. 

"You're both - " Daisy tried to interrupt, but Coulson and May ignored her. 

"Sandwiches are _rectangles!_ " Coulson shouted. Mack was shocked that anyone could be genuinely concerned about this, but it appeared they both were. 

"They're _squares!_ " May yelled. 

" _Rectangles!_ " 

" _Squares!_ " 

Mack saw Hunter, FitzSimmons, and Yo-Yo run in, alarmed at the noise, with Piper and Davis close behind. 

" _Sandwiches! Are! Rectangles!_ " Coulson screamed. 

" _They're squares!_ " May shrieked. 

"Squares are - " Simmons cut in. 

Coulson was now sobbing furiously, and May had her hands balled into fists. Coulson stomped out of the kitchen, and Mack heard him slam a door a few seconds later. May ran the other direction, to where Mack had no idea. 

They stood in stunned silence until Bobbi walked in.

"What the hell is going on?" she demanded. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So all that stuff about methylation is actually real! Cool, right? Except the whole reverse puberty doesn't exist. Sorry guys, but there's a reason why people don't turn into toddler versions of themselves in real life. Yay artistic liberties. 
> 
> Existent as DNA methylation may be, I am not a geneticist, friends, so all of my information comes from our genetics unit that we're in at school and the internet. If I got anything wrong, and you happen to be a geneticist or just someone who knows a lot about this stuff, feel free to point out my inaccuracies and I'll make changes as I see fit! 
> 
> Additionally, any and everything relating to this whole chapter is pretty iffy considering I researched for about four days for this? I mean my field of scientific research is more in the astronomy sector (the universe is fascinating and beautiful and captivating no one can convince me otherwise), so I know absolutely nothing about this, but I guess Simmons and Bobbi and Fitz do :) 
> 
> I'll keep updating as much as I can, but school is actually a disaster right now, so it's difficult to fit it in.


	5. Picking Up The Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team tries to repair Coulson and May's relationship and Daisy gets no sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! By which I mean, I'm back to posting! For those who didn't know, I took about a month-long (is it month-long? Maybe three weeks? I dunno, but it was a while) break from posting, though I didn't post something on tumblr about it until like, last week, because I forgot. 
> 
> Anyway, I'm planning to update this fic every Friday, so we'll see how long I can keep it consistent! 
> 
> Enjoy <3

"It's been three days," Bobbi said. "May hits something - or someone - every time she sees the sharkie-duckies. Coulson won't eat anything except strawberry ice cream. We have to do _something_." She paced around the kitchen, where the legendary argument had taken place three days ago. Every agent in the building had heard the story, and a fair amount of them had heard Coulson and May's shouting. 

"You got any bright ideas, love?" Hunter yawned, sitting on the couch. Bobbi knew she had to think of something, but she couldn't. Every solution she had in her head was something they had already tried, with disastrous results. 

"All this over squares and rectangles?" Mack muttered. 

"Yeah," Daisy confirmed. "What's worse is that neither of them can sleep in their own beds. Coulson comes in at 2am and sleeps on the left side of me, and May comes in at 2:30 and sleeps on the right side. Do you have any idea how hard it is to sleep with two restless toddlers who despise each other?" 

"Yes," Bobbi and Hunter said at the same time. 

"What even happened in Madagascar?" Mack asked. 

"That was Amsterdam," Hunter said darkly, "and you don't want to know what happened in Amsterdam." 

Yo-Yo rolled her eyes. Bobbi smiled slightly at her.   
  
  


"I could give them a geometry lesson," Simmons offered. "And subtly add in that squares _are_ rectangles." 

"'Subtly'?" Daisy asked. "Simmons... you aren't the... most discreet... person. Besides, May's pretty smart for a two-year-old. As soon as you bring out the shapes, she'll know what's up." 

Before anyone could reply, a shriek came from Coulson and May's room. " _GIVE IT BACK!_ "

They ran to the door and Daisy pounded in the access code (Bobbi had insisted 'for security'). May was standing on top of the bookshelf wall holding a Captain America picture book to her chest, and Coulson was standing on top of the craft table across the room, looking furious. 

" _This is the only one with Peggy!_ " May argued. 

" _It's my book!_ " Coulson shouted. 

"May, get down from the bookshelves," Bobbi interrupted.   
  


"And Coulson, don't stand on the table," Daisy added.   
  
  
" _She took my book!_ " Coulson yelled, then looked surprised at the fact that he rhymed. He carefully got off the table. May glared at them both before climbing down the bookshelves. 

"It's _our_ book," May corrected, "and it's the only one with Peggy Carter." 

"You're supposed to be sleeping, not reading," Daisy replied. 

"Not to mention the fact that neither of you _can_ read," Bobbi agreed. 

"I can read!" Coulson protested. 

"Five words," Mack murmured to Yo-Yo, who shushed him. 

"I just want to see the pictures!" May cried. 

"You can see the pictures in the morning," Hunter offered. Bobbi winced as Coulson immediately screamed,

" _But it's my book!"_

Daisy sighed and put her head in her hands before walking out the door. Bobbi watched her, concerned, before turning back to the toddlers. "Okay, _both of you,_ get in bed," she ordered. "May, put the book back on the bookshelf, Coulson, stop yelling. I don't want to hear another word, got it?" 

They both nodded, Coulson looking fearful and anxious, and May scowling and looking defiant. Yo-Yo tucked in May, covering her with her beloved airplane blanket, and Mack pulled Coulson's Captain America comforter over him. Simmons smiled at them both, and with a soft "Good night" she turned out the lights. Bobbi sighed and took all of the Captain America books with her as she left, just to be safe. 

**\- - -**

Daisy woke up at 1:56am to her door opening. She blinked a few times and sat up. Predictably, Coulson was there, clutching a tiny Darth Vader teddy bear. He crawled wordlessly onto her bed and scooted underneath the blanket. 

"Daisy?" he asked softly after three minutes of silence.

"Yeah?" Daisy asked quietly. 

"Why do bad guys want to take over the world?" 

"I'm sorry?" she asked, half-awake. 

"Why do bad guys want to take over the world?" Coulson repeated. 

"Um... because they want to be in charge and make all the rules," Daisy replied. 

"But they could just be Bobbi then," Coulson pointed out. Daisy bit her lip, trying not to laugh. "Why would you want to be a bad guy if you could be Bobbi?" 

She sighed. "I dunno." 

"Can we get a dog?" he asked. 

"What's up with the weird questions tonight?"

"They aren't my questions," Coulson said. "They're May's. But she doesn't want to ask them, so I'm asking them because she wants to know the answers. Can we get a dog?" 

Daisy shook her head. There was no way they could take care of a dog _and_ May and Coulson. Besides, she was fairly sure that Bobbi wanted a cat. 

"Why?"

"Hunter's allergic," Daisy lied.

"Hunter loves dogs. He said so. How can he love dogs if he's never been near one 'cause he's allergic? Also, he told May he had a dog when he was a kid, so how come he had a dog when he was a kid but he can't have a dog now?" Coulson asked. 

"Yeah... I meant... Mack's allergic."   
  
  


"Is that why he doesn't have any hair?" 

"... yes." 

"When Mack dies, can we get a dog?" 

Daisy sighed. These were May's questions. She should have known this would end morbidly.

**\- - -**

"Fitz?" Jemma yawned, walking into the kitchen. It was nearly six in the morning, but Fitz looked like he'd been up for hours. He was on a computer, a cup of coffee beside him. He hadn't even bothered to turn on the lights, so Jemma flipped the switch, and he winced at the sudden brightness of the room. "What are you doing?"   
  


She sat down beside him as he said, "Reading this article. Trying to figure out how to get May and Coulson to forgive one another." 

"Daisy said Coulson kept her up all night asking questions that May hadn't asked yet. Apparently, Mack's allergic to dogs now. Yo-Yo spent the night with May, because May wanted to listen to the old Captain America programs they used to play on the radio eighty years ago," Jemma replied. 

"So they've already forgiven one another, they just think the other hasn't," Fitz concluded. 

Jemma nodded. "Do they have a step-by-step guide on this website?" 

"Yeah. 'Step One: Call a family meeting'," he read. They sat together, both looking at the computer, hands clasped beneath the table as Fitz read the article out loud while Jemma took notes. 

**\- - -**

"You may be wondering why I have called a Family Meeting," Bobbi announced, standing in the middle of the room. Daisy was sitting in the middle of the couch, with Coulson and May on either side of her at the very edges, each of them determinedly ignoring the other. FitzSimmons were sitting cross-legged on the floor, and Hunter was sitting on the armrest of Bobbi's favorite chair. Mack had pulled up a chair from one of the briefing rooms, and Yo-Yo was in the chair next to Bobbi's. 

Bobbi waited for half a second before Hunter asked obligingly, "Why have you called a Family Meeting?" 

"I have called a Family Meeting because I believe that Family Meetings are bullshit, but FitzSimmons insisted on it," Bobbi declared. 

"Bobbi," Simmons chastised. Yo-Yo held out third swear jar of the week. 

"Why do you think Family Meetings are... bad?" Daisy asked, catching Simmons' warning look. 

"Madagascar," Hunter and Bobbi answered simultaneously. "And Buenos Aires, come to think of it," Hunter added. 

Daisy rolled her eyes while Bobbi took her seat and Simmons stood up. Fitz handed her several sheets of paper with neat writing. "First of all, I would like to start by comparing our family to a team. May, can you tell me why our family is a team?" 

"We go on missions?" she asked hopefully. 

"You may absolutely not go on missions," Daisy replied. May sighed. 

"Coulson, why is our family a team?" 

"'Cause we're dysfunctional," Coulson said. Everyone turned to him. "Bobbi said we were dys-func-tion-al." 

"She has a point," Mack muttered. 

"We are team," Simmons said, "and, like any team, we have to _work together_ to have a _peaceful_ and _respectful_ environment." 

"Peaceful?" Yo-Yo asked. 

"Respectful?" Hunter asked. 

Simmons glared. "And any argument that may happen among certain members of the team," she continued, "hurts the whole team, including those involved in the argument." 

  
"Exactly," Daisy said, making a pointed glance at both May and Coulson. Simmons handed her a slip of paper. "We must learn to handle disagreements in a constructive manner and _wow_ I can tell you wrote this." Daisy coughed and continued. "So we're going to all listen to _both sides_ of your story. May, you're going to tell us exactly what's bothering you and no one else is going to say anything. We're all just going to listen, okay? And when you're done, Coulson, you're going to tell us exactly what's bothering you. Got that?" 

Everyone nodded. 

"Good. May, whenever you'd like to start," Simmons said, and Daisy handed her the piece of paper, which she neatly tucked back into a stack of other papers. 

"Sandwiches are squares," May said. 

Everyone waited for a full ten seconds, just to make sure she wasn't making a dramatic pause, before realizing that those three words were she was going to say. 

"Well, now we know how the Cavalry wins her arguments," Hunter said. His eyes widened as soon as he realized what he had just said, and everyone looked to May for her reaction, including Coulson, who opened his mouth to say something, but then looked confused as to why he did. 

"Why are you guys staring at me?" May asked after a few seconds, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. 

"Nothing," Daisy said, shooting Hunter a look. "Um, Coulson, why don't you go?" 

"I'm sorry and it doesn't really matter so can we be friends again?" Coulson begged, looking to May. 

"Hold on, Coulson, we want to hear your side of the story, not your apology," Bobbi said gently before May could reply. 

"But it doesn't _matter,_ " he insisted. 

"Yeah, it does," May said. "Don't be sorry 'cause you want me to be your friend again, be sorry 'cause you yelled." 

Simmons sighed. "May, we aren't at the apologizing part yet, or the part where you say why he should be sorry, though the latter will definitely not happen, because he gets to make his own decisions. Coulson, go ahead." 

Coulson paused for a minute before saying, "I was pointing out that sandwiches are rectangles and then I got mad. I don't even know why I got mad but I got mad. So then I started yelling and then May was yelling and she is very scary when she's yelling so then I ran away." 

"Let's establish that there's no yelling," Mack offered. 

"That's a good idea," Bobbi agreed, clearly for the benefit of the two children in front of her. 

"Can we do the apologies part now?" Coulson asked. 

  
Fitz shrugged. "Sure." Yo-Yo discreetly got out her phone to film them.

"May, I'm sorry I yelled and also that I said sandwiches are rectangles even though they are but I'm sorry that you were sad about that." 

"Coulson, I'm sorry I yelled and that made you scared and sandwiches are squares, and I was not sad I was mad but that's okay, and I'm sorry." 

"I can't take it anymore,," Hunter announced. May and Coulson turned to him. " _Rectangles are squares._ " 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is what I have nicknamed a Bobbi Interlude, or a chapter where we focus on Bobbi and her challenges of being the new director - from Bobbi's POV, of course, though I might add in Hunter every now and then. I'm planning to have these every six chapters, so in Chapter 6, Chapter 12, and Chapter 18. 
> 
> Also, like I mentioned in the notes at the beginning, I'm going to try and update this fic every Friday, which should be easier because I'm out of school as of posting! Thank you all for your support of this fic and drop me a comment if you can <3


	6. Director Morse Pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bobbi finds that everything is not what it seems and struggles with her new responsibilities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This does go back in time a bit as it's Bobbi's first day, but we will catch up to current events by the end. 
> 
> Also... not a lot of comedy in this? Mostly chaos and panic and being overwhelmed because apparently I'm projecting onto my characters now. 
> 
> Enjoy <3

“And I need to sign all of these?” Bobbi asked, gesturing to a stack of papers on the corner of Coulson’s desk. The agent nodded. 

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied.

“What are they?” 

“Director Coulson read through them by himself, ma’am, and Agent May filed them, so I’m not sure.” 

Bobbi winced at the ‘ma’am’ but she wasn’t an idiot. SHIELD agents were taught how to respect their superiors. She would have to get used to the fact that she was one of them. “So these are for the week?” 

The agent bit his lip. “No, ma’am.” 

“The  _ day? _ ” 

“The hour, ma’am.” 

Bobbi sighed and dismissed the agent before putting her head in her hands. Who was she kidding? She had no idea how to do this. She had a million papers to sign and that was for the  _ hour.  _

She sighed and opened up Coulson’s computer. It was very organized, with no tabs open, though the entire desktop was filled with folders.  _ F/B. HR. R&D Applications. _

Bobbi clicked on the  _ F/B _ folder. Funding and budgeting. She gasped at the hundreds of images that suddenly filled the screen. Most of them ended in something being circled in red. Most of the things circled in red were dollar amounts. Most of the dollar amounts were very, very high. 

“What the hell…” Bobbi muttered, sorting through them all. She got up from her desk and walked down the hall, ignoring the agent who stood guard by her door. Nearly tripping down the stairs, Bobbi walked to the kitchen, where she knew the team would be. 

“Enjoying your first day as director?” Mack asked as FitzSimmons played with May and Coulson on the floor. 

  
“Yeah,” Bobbi said, distracted as she looked for Daisy. She found her in the corner of the room, talking with Piper. “Hey Daisy, can you come with me for a second?” 

Daisy nodded, clearly catching the serious tone behind the innocent words. “Sure. Piper, hold my beer, would you?” 

After handing off her beer to Piper, and five minutes of May and Coulson requesting to go with them (Hunter finally deterred them with ice cream offers, something Bobbi was sure she’d regret eventually but was grateful for at the moment), Daisy followed Bobbi out the door. 

“What’s up?” Daisy asked as soon as they walked into Coulson’s - no,  _ her  _ office and Bobbi shut the door behind them. 

“Look at this,” Bobbi said, gesturing to the computer. “Look how thin we’re spread. We’re completely overrun with 084 reports, but we don’t have anyone to go after them. Buildings aren’t properly clean because we can’t pay janitorial crews around the world. We can barely pay for fuel, and it’s becoming more expensive as we speak because of oil conflicts in the Middle East.” 

  
  
“Why do we not have enough money?” 

“I don’t know.” 

  
  
“If we’re short on agents, why keep so many at the Playground?” 

“Because in the event of an attack on the Playground, we have to keep a minimum amount of fully trained agents here. Think about it. Every file we have it stored here, both digitally and on paper. Personnel files, mission reports…” 

  
  
Daisy’s eyes widened. “And blueprints for weapons of mass destruction.” 

“Yeah.” 

They sat in silence until Daisy asked, “Why didn’t Coulson tell us how underfunded we were?” 

Bobbi sighed. “I don’t know.”

“Do we tell the others?” 

Bobbi turned to her. “If Coulson can keep this running for so long without telling them… I don’t think we should. I think he has a reason for keeping this from us.” 

“It’s probably classified.” 

“Do you think he told May?” 

Daisy glanced at Bobbi inquisitively.    


“She’s his right hand like Commander Hill was Director Fury’s right hand. What does she know?”

Daisy smiled slightly. “The real question is, what  _ doesn’t  _ she know?”

**\- - -**

“Do you know how much money we spend on dry cleaning and clothes shopping?” Bobbi asked one night after May had been denied (yet another) bowl of ice cream and the team had gone to bed. 

“Why would we spend money on dry cleaning and clothes shopping?” Hunter yawned. 

“Think about it,” Bobbi replied. 

“It’s almost four in the morning and we’ll all have to wake up in an hour to go take care of our former commanding officers who are now toddlers while we try to save the world,  _ again _ ,” Hunter said. Bobbi turned to him. “I don’t want to think right now, love, I want to go to sleep.” 

They lay in silence for a while before Hunter whispered, “How much money?”

**\- - -**

Five minutes. Bobbi only wanted  _ five goddamn minutes  _ to herself before she had another problem to fix (most of which were related to money). 

R&D had a million projects they wanted approved and funded, and only a few of their scientists were actually working on helping Coulson and May. First of all, Bobbi didn’t feel comfortable appropriating funds everywhere, especially because she knew that once Coulson got back, he’d have to clean up any messes she made. Second, she couldn’t get more of them to work on Coulson and May because they needed the device that was used in the first place and they felt that without the device, any time spent on the problem was a waste. 

Bobbi had to personally check up on all of the undercover ops that were going on around the world, as well as informing the agents of the change in leadership while explicitly stating  _ multiple times  _ that they couldn’t tell their governments. It took at least four hours to convince the base in Libya not to go straight to their prime minister, though Bobbi was pleased that Germany’s Agent Wagner immediately followed her orders and offered a hand if she ever needed help. 

But what hurt most of all was Thursday. 

Thursday was the day that Bobbi flew around the world to tell parents of their children’s deaths in the field, to inform siblings that their loved ones weren’t coming home, to hug children tight when she told them their parent was gone, to give condolences to small communities of people who were waiting for their agent to bring back a souvenir for a little girl, or a paycheck to pay for a young boy’s college tuition. 

Bobbi threw up after her first visit. 

She called Hunter after the second. 

But she didn’t give up, and she flew to twelve different cities before Davis told her that Coulson tried to keep it to ten every Thursday, and her sixteen was going to cause her to break down. 

When Bobbi got back, she went to the kitchen. She needed food, something as unhealthy as possible. Anything to get her mind off of today. As she was rounding the corner, she heard shouting. As soon as she walked in, May was stalking off and Coulson was nowhere to be seen. The team appeared to be stunned. 

“What the hell is going on?” 

**\- - -**

“Of course I understand. Go be with your family,” Bobbi assured the agent in front of her, Agent Bianchi. 

“Thank you, Director Morse,” they said, relieved. Their wife’s father had just died, and they needed to be with her right now. Part of Bobbi was glad she could do anything to help Agent Bianchi right now. But part of Bobbi knew that this was another shift to fill, another agent to pull from the field to put on base, another pay raise that she really couldn’t afford. 

And of course, there was the kids. Coulson and May were so mad at each other they barely spoke. It seemed the disasters were piling up by the second. 

Bobbi sighed as Agent Bianchi left the room. What was she going to screw up next? 

**\- - -**

“Bob, you sure you’re okay? Daisy could help with some of this, or Mack…” Hunter said as Bobbi finally laid down to sleep at nearly three in the morning. She would be up in two hours, maybe earlier. She just had so much to do. 

“Did you wait up for me?” 

“Yeah. And you’re overwhelmed.” 

Bobbi ran her hand through her hair. “Just takes some getting used to, Hunter. I’m fine.” 

She was grateful Hunter knew not to press her, but the sinking feeling in her stomach told her that he was right. She was overwhelmed. 

But then again, so was everyone else. She would just have to deal with it. 


	7. Rules of Engagement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simmons has bad news.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're up at 1am or an unreasonable time (like Bobbi is), here's your reminder to take a break. The fic will be here in a few hours. I say this with love: go the fuck to sleep.

"It's just a flu shot," Daisy assured May and Coulson as they walked into the lab. "See? I'm going to get one, Bobbi's going to get one, Mack's going to get one... everyone is going to get a flu shot." 

"Bobbi's not, actually," Hunter corrected. Daisy turned to him in surprise. "Or at least, not right now. She's backed up with work - she hasn't slept more than two hours in weeks. I'm worried about her, but she won't let me help. Will you - "

"I'll handle it," Daisy promised. "Hunter's getting a flu shot, too!" 

"Did Captain America get flu shots?" Coulson asked nervously, watching as FitzSimmons and Agent Nathanson unloaded boxes of flu shots, enough for the entire base. 

"You could ask FitzSimmons, I bet they'd know," Daisy suggested. Coulson nodded and ran over to Simmons, tapping her knee a few times. May stood next to him, looking, in Daisy's opinion, absolutely adorable in her purple shirt and black pants, with her favorite black headband (it had a single daisy on the side, much to May's delight) carefully arranged in her hair. Coulson was refusing to wear anything besides red, white, and blue in a phase that Mack attributed to Daisy's love of reading him Captain America books. 

"Well, the flu vaccine was first discovered in the 1930s, and I believe the first recipients of the vaccine were World War II soldiers, but that was in 1945, and he may have already been in the ice by then," Simmons was explaining as she walked over with Fitz, May, and Coulson. "I suppose it's possible that he got it before the super-soldier serum was administered, though he would have already had to be drafted by then, to be a soldier, because civilians weren't allowed it until 1946. How short was the window in between when Steve Rogers joined the army and when he was given the serum?" 

Fitz shrugged. "Not sure. I guess he would've had to undergo a selection process, and training." 

"I think you're all overthinking this," Mack commented. 

Yo-Yo shrugged. "Many cannot afford flu shots in Colombia. You are lucky to be able to get them." 

"Who would like to go first?" Simmons asked.

"We'll go first," Daisy offered, Coulson holding her left hand and May holding her right hand.   
  


Simmons nodded. "Perfect. You can come back here," she said. They followed her back to a small station like the kind Daisy used to see at Target whenever it was flu season, complete with a privacy curtain (Daisy wasn't sure why it was necessary, because everyone around the base had seen everyone else being stitched up for one thing or another). "Would you like me to close the curtain?" 

"I'm good," Daisy said. She was already wearing a tank top in preparation. May and Coulson climbed onto the chairs next to Daisy, watching as Simmons cleaned the skin with a cotton ball before bringing out the needle. 

"Does it have to be so big?" May asked nervously. 

"It's no big deal. I'm just going to look away so I don't tense up because then it will hurt more," Daisy explained. She turned her head to watch Yo-Yo, then smiled as Yo-Yo took (yet another) picture on her phone. She felt a little prick and tensed up automatically. Wincing slightly, she blamed May's training but kept her face calm. Hunter gave her an encouraging thumbs-up. 

"You're all done!" Simmons said cheerfully. 

"Awesome. Thanks, Simmons. Who wants to go next?" Daisy asked. 

May backed away slightly, and Coulson and Daisy both noticed. Coulson nodded confidently. "I'll do it!" 

Simmons proceeded, and Daisy told Coulson to watch Hunter, who was attempting to sneak up on Fitz and failing. Coulson giggled as Fitz finally said, "Hunter, I can see you behind me!" 

Hunter grinned. "Putting on a show for the kids, mate. May, who should I sneak up on next?" 

May's smile faltered when she realized it was her turn, and she glared when Simmons gestured for her to come sit on the chair. "No."

"May, it's not a big deal, it's completely fine," Daisy said, confused. 

"No!" May shouted. 

"May, we talked about _being polite_ ," Hunter chastised. 

" _No thank you!_ " May screamed, and tears streamed down her face.

Several agents in the hallway and everyone in the lab turned to her in surprise. Mack walked out of the room, and Yo-Yo followed. Hunter bit his lip and Daisy knelt to her level like the article one of her agents emailed her said to do. "What's wrong? You were completely fine with this when we were talking about it earlier, and Coulson just had his flu shot and it barely hurt, right?" 

Coulson nodded. "Yeah, it was like when you step on a LEGO, but much better." 

Mack walked back into the room. "May, why don't you take this?" He held out a stuffed koala, clearly very old, with blue eyes and soft gray fur. 

May clumsily wiped her face with her elbow, accepting the koala. "What's this?" 

"This is Koa. She's a... a magic koala," Mack explained. 

"A brave magic koala," Yo-Yo added, her hand on Mack's shoulder. "She is scared to get a flu shot too, but she does not want to be sick." 

"Koa needs a flu shot?" Coulson asked. 

"Of course," Fitz replied, grabbing an empty needle and a clean cotton ball, not bothering to add the alcohol, before holding his hand out for the koala. May surrendered her, her brow creased. Fitz copied Simmons' procedure with the empty needle and cotton ball, and Hunter snuck up on Agent Nathanson, who, unlike Fitz, had no idea what was going on. 

"All done," Fitz said, handing Koa back to May when he had finished the mock flu shot. "You ready for yours, May?" 

May nodded with a smile on her face that mirrored Daisy's as she watched their team. She turned to Mack and mouthed, _Hope?_

Mack nodded.

**\- - -**

"Bobbi?" Daisy asked, knocking on the door to Bobbi's office. Coulson and May were both napping, May curled up with Koa, who had become her new favorite stuffed animal. 

"Come in," came an exhausted reply, and Daisy pushed the door open. 

"Hey, Hunter mentioned you haven't slept lately? Are you sure you don't want me or someone else to help with the workload?" she asked. 

Bobbi shrugged. There were circles under her eyes and her usually neat hair was in complete disarray. Daisy winced as she took in her friend's appearance, but Bobbi didn't seem to notice. "I'm fine, Daisy, but thanks. How are the kids?" 

"Nice changing the subject." 

"It's relevant," Bobbi replied. "We've got the fire drill coming up and I don't think they should be here for it." 

"If there's a fire, shouldn't they know what to do?" 

"Yes. We can talk to them about it. But think about your last fire drill." 

Daisy remembered. Lights were flashing bright red, and the usual lights were completely shut down, so the darkness came in and out. There were fire crews - agents whose job it was to get to some of the most important locations, like the hangar bay or the lab or storage or the server room - running through the hallways, and a special fire crew to get to wherever the fire was. There were agents whose job it was to get people out of cells, agents whose job it was to get explosive materials or 084s, agents whose job it was to protect the 084s, and then everyone else. People like Daisy who were supposed to get out of the building by going out various exits, trying to look inconspicuous while getting as far away from the building as possible. 

It was not a drill for children. 

"Are you suggesting we take them... out?" Daisy asked. 

Bobbi sighed. "I don't know what else to do. I asked Simmons for results of their brain scans a few hours ago - "

" _What?_ " Daisy shouted. 

"When she scanned their brains the first time, Daisy, I didn't just do it," Bobbi explained quickly. 

"Oh." 

"She said something was off and she was studying them, and I think until we know exactly what's going on, we can't put them in high-stress situations. It's bad enough they notice that some agents have died. It's bad enough they see Simmons trying to fix gashes that pour blood on the floor. They're little kids. They can't handle it, Daisy. May freaked out about a flu shot today," Bobbi continued. Daisy gave her a questioning look. "Mack told me." 

"I agree. But we haven't ever taken them out of the base, besides a shopping trip that they were asleep for most of. Beyond the fact that they can't keep a secret... what if they don't want to leave?" 

Bobbi sighed. "I don't know, Daisy. I don't know." 

**\- - -**

Jemma had been going between administering flu shots and studying brain scans for about eight hours when she got the results back for her latest tests, this time focusing on the hippocampus, the part of the brain that was associated with various memory functions. 

"Fitz, would you mind getting the team to Bobbi's office? Now?" Jemma asked, turning to Fitz. He glanced at her computer screen. His eyes widened. 

"Simmons - " 

"Please," she said. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a few of her agents looking at them, obviously wondering what was going on that had Jemma so rattled. 

"Yeah, I'll get Bobbi to call them into her office. Where are you going?" Fitz asked as he noticed Jemma printing out her results. 

"I need to test my hypothesis. I'll meet you there." 

**\- - -**

"What's going on?" Hunter asked as soon as he walked into Bobbi's office. The first thing he noticed, of course, was Bobbi, and how could he not? In just a few weeks she had gone from... well, being Bobbi to being more like a zombie. The second thing he noticed was Fitz's face as he stood next to the window. Daisy was sitting in Coulson's - no, Bobbi's chair, and Bobbi was leaning against the wall. Yo-Yo was sitting in a chair on the other side of the desk, and Mack had just walked in, like Hunter. The only person missing was Simmons. 

Daisy shrugged. "Fitz?" 

"Simmons will - " Fitz began. 

"I'll explain," Simmons agreed, walking in. "I did a brain scan at the very beginning of... all of this. I've been focusing on certain areas of the brain, such as the hippocampus, for a little while now." 

"Simmons," Daisy murmured. 

"I was worried. About their memories. And what might be happening to them as they're forming new memories, what's going to happen to the old ones, and I know the old ones are there, locked away somehow, but I can't get them. Or at least, I can't get them without giving them severe damage, and then what would be the point?" Simmons rambled. 

"Why are we here?" Yo-Yo asked. 

Simmons swallowed. "Their older memories are degrading over time. Even if we reversed the de-aging process... after a little while, I don't think it would matter. They would be without their old memories, containing only their new ones.."

Hunter raised a hand. Simmons nodded. "I thought their old memories were already erased and that's why they don't remember?"

"No," Fitz said. "They're hidden away, and we can't... we can't unlock them. But the longer they live like this, the more those memories are being replaced. After a certain point..." 

"What are you saying?" Mack asked. 

"They won't remember anything about their lives before this. Even if we re-age them, they'll be their toddler selves in adult bodies," Bobbi concluded. 

Yo-Yo stood. "Do we know when that's going to happen?" 

Simmons shrugged. "I can't give an exact answer but I'm guessing... a few months, probably." 

"And if this happens..." Daisy began. 

"If that happens, it might be kinder to leave them like this." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :) yay cliffhangers!
> 
> Fun fact: Koa the koala is based off of one of my stuffed animals by the same name!


	8. Gold Glittery Unicorns and Black Leather Jackets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which pancakes are delicious, there are hints of Relationship Problems, and May has the best fashion sense ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday and Happy Hamilton Day!! Feel free to scream about it with me in the comments because IT'S FINALLY OUT ON DISNEY+
> 
> Not read through or beta'd because it's late and I'm exhausted :)) Enjoy <3

“Coulson, wake up!” May whispered, tapping Coulson on the shoulder. She had just snuck out of their bedroom (the vents weren’t  _ that  _ hard to reach) and heard Daisy and Simmons talking about ‘going into the city.’ 

Coulson yawned. “What?” 

“Daisy and maybe Simmons are going to go somewhere and we should go, too!”    
  
Coulson sat up, suddenly awake. “Like a spy movie?” he asked excitedly. He hadn’t actually  _ seen  _ a spy movie, given that he was three (and a half!) years old, but some of the recruits liked to compare their lives to those of James Bond. 

“Sure.” 

“... how do you know?” 

“‘Cause I heard them,” May said. “When I sneaked out. In the air vents.” 

“You mean the vents on the ceiling?”

“Mhmmm,” May confirmed absentmindedly, glancing at Koa. She wasn’t exactly sure how she knew how to get out of their room. She knew that she couldn’t pick the lock - how did she know how to pick a lock? - and somehow, she knew that the vents were her only other option. After that, it was like muscle memory (a term May had learned from Piper one day when they were in the gym). It was like muscle memory that was getting harder to remember, so May had drawn all the steps in her Moana-themed notebook. 

“Listen,” Coulson whispered, crawling out of his bed and walking to the door. May followed him, putting her ear to the space in between the hinges. She could hear heavy footsteps, and most noticeably, Mack and Yo-Yo’s voices down the hall. 

May and Coulson ran back to their beds, scuttling under the covers. Coulson, who wasn’t very good at pretending to be asleep, covered his face with his pillow and blanket, while May let her eyes close gently, concentrating on making her eyelids not flutter. She took a deep breath, because normally people didn’t breathe very fast when they were sleeping, and let the tension in her muscles go. 

“Buenos dias,” Yo-Yo greeted them as she opened the door and turned on the lights. May could feel her walk towards Coulson’s bed, and Mack walk to hers. 

“Come on, May, time to wake up,” Mack said, shaking her shoulder slightly. May moaned and smacked his hand away, putting her pillow on her head. 

“Sleeeeep,” she protested as Mack removed the pillow. She was fairly sure he was laughing as he pulled back the covers, leaving her freezing cold in her pajamas. 

“I shouldn’t mention that Hunter has a surprise in the kitchen and involves pancakes,” Yo-Yo said. “Should I?” 

**\- - -**

Hunter nearly burned himself on the pan when May and Coulson ran into the kitchen screaming, “ _ Pancakes! Pancakes! Pancakes! _ ” Neither of them had gotten ready for the day because that was FitzSimmons’ task, not Mack and Yo-Yo’s, so Coulson was wearing _ Star Wars  _ pajamas and May was in skeleton pajamas (Bobbi’s idea of a joke). 

“Coulson, you want yours with blueberries, chocolate, or mystery?” Hunter asked. Mystery was usually some sort of fruit that Hunter would throw in, but he had found bacon earlier that morning, the smell of which woke up Piper and Davis. He had offered some to Daisy or Bobbi, both of whom were already awake and by all appearances had been for a while, but they both declined (Bobbi too engrossed in her work to answer and Daisy having already eaten). 

“Blueberries  _ and  _ chocolate  _ and  _ mystery!” Coulson cheered, running in circles around the room. 

Mack glanced at Yo-Yo, who shrugged. “Better for him to eat everything than nothing.” 

“Good point. What about you, May?” Hunter inquired, bending down to the little girl’s level. 

“Can I have a Twik in my pancake?” she asked. 

“You mean Twix?” 

“No, I only want one,” May explained. 

Hunter opened his mouth to refute, but decided the better of it. “I think Piper ate the last one. You want chocolate chips instead?” 

**\- - -**

Daisy arrived perfectly on time to the kitchen to see May drown her stack of three chocolate chip pancakes in syrup and Coulson pick out the bacon in his blueberry-chocolate-mystery pancakes “to save for later.” Mack was standing in the corner of the room with a few strips of bacon and Yo-Yo had her own blueberry pancakes and was sitting next to May, trying to help her cut hers up. 

“Daisy!” Coulson cried, leaping up from his seat and running to hug her with deconstructed pancake hands, a gesture that was both appreciated and unfortunate, as it got food and syrup all over her jeans. 

“Hi,” Daisy said, carefully extricating herself from his grip. “Morning, May.” 

“How come you’re dressed differently?” May asked, gesturing with sticky fingers to Daisy’s jean-and-nice-shirt combination. Daisy had figured that May would notice that she was wearing something other than leggings and a leather jacket, but she hadn’t expected her to be so straightforward about it. 

“Because you, me, and Coulson are gonna go out today,” she explained. 

“What?” Hunter asked at the same time Mack said, 

“When did this happen?” 

“There’s a fire drill today, so we can’t send the whole team. I’ll be fine,” Daisy assured them. “Bobbi and I already talked it over, and don’t you all have to do your annual physical today?” Mack and Yo-Yo nodded, but Hunter flipped a pancake and shook his head. 

“I did mine earlier this morning.” 

“Perfect, you can help Bobbi with last-minute prep. She’s overwhelmed with it, but she won’t admit it, so if she tells you she doesn’t need help tell her that I’m making you do it,” Daisy instructed. 

Hunter gave her a grateful look and saluted. “Aye aye, captain.” 

Daisy smiled and snatched a handful of chocolate chips from the bowl. 

**\- - -**

Jemma figured that Coulson’s parents had been very, very lucky to get such a well-behaved child. He certainly had his moments (Daisy had to wash her jeans twice to get the gooey syrup out of them), but overall, if you asked him to brush his teeth, he brushed his teeth, which was more than May could say. 

Melinda May was absolutely  _ impossible  _ to get ready with. If she said she was getting dressed in her Amelia Earhart T-shirt, she was wearing her Peter Pan costume. If she insisted on brushing her teeth by herself, the toothbrush ended up glued to the light fixture in the bathroom with an egregious amount of toothpaste. If she attempted to brush her own hair, she would end up with a mini afro on her head. If she was supposed to be making her bed, she was “reading” Koa the koala a book (“reading” being a relative term, seeing as all she did was point at the words and sing the alphabet). 

“May, why don’t you help me pick out my outfit and then I’ll help you pick out yours, and then we can get dressed for the day?” Jemma suggested. She was already wearing one of her favorite sweaters and jeans, but she would do anything if it ended with May dressed in a reasonable outfit, and besides, she could always change when May went to New York City with Daisy and Coulson. 

Jemma wasn’t actually sure why Daisy had chosen New York particularly, but she knew that Bobbi had some input, and it wasn’t too far from the base, and Jemma knew they could blend in better in a big city than a small town. 

“Okay!” May cheered. Jemma let her run to her and Fitz’s closet while she stayed in Coulson and May’s. She ended up just taking May’s favorite tutu dress (a gold glittery unicorn top with a rainbow tulle skirt), because she knew May would fight to wear it anyway, as well as gold glittery flats. 

“Are you ready?” Jemma asked, poking her head in the other room with the dress and shoes prepared. 

She winced as she saw that May had laid out pajamas, Fitz’s old rain boots, and a cape (Jemma had no idea from where it originated, as it was certainly not something that was in  _ her  _ closet) neatly on the bed, as well as a nice pair of earrings that Jemma typically wore for undercover. 

“May, I don’t…” Jemma trailed off as May looked expectantly at her. She sighed. “Alright, then. Are you worried you’ll get cold in the dress?” 

“Can I wear the black jacket? The one that looks like Daisy’s?” May asked. Jemma’s heart melted immediately. The black leather jacket was bought by Mack, who saw it and hoped it would bring out something of the old May. It might have, because May fell in love with it and insisted on wearing it pretty much everywhere. Daisy’s leather jacket had been bought by May for Daisy’s birthday, and both jackets were quite similar to one another. 

“A unicorn tutu dress and a leather jacket,” Jemma murmured softly to herself after she instructed May to get dressed -  _ call if you need help getting the right shoes on the right feet, okay?  _ \- and left to get dressed in her own ridiculous outfit. “This is certainly full of surprises.” 

**\- - -**

“We’ll be fine, guys,” Daisy assured them for the thousandth time as Mack pulled a few bags into the trunk of the car. They were going to be gone for at least twenty-four hours, but Yo-Yo wanted pictures of them at the Statue of Liberty and other iconic sights, so maybe more. She refused to tell anyone why she wanted the pictures, but one look at her face told Daisy it would be well worth it. 

“I can absolutely go with you, if you need,” Simmons began. “I’m sure the lab would be all right without me for a little bit - ” 

“We need you and Fitz working on the fix for this,” Bobbi interrupted, the goodbye being one of the rare times when she had actually shown her face recently. “Daisy knows what she's getting into. I think.” 

“Do you?” Hunter muttered quietly to Bobbi, who glared at him for a second.  _ Uh oh.  _ Daisy wasn’t sure what was going on there, but it certainly didn’t sound good. 

“Are you sure you’ll be good?” Mack asked worriedly. 

Daisy waved him off. “I don’t think you’re giving me enough credit. I mean in the grand scheme of things, what could really go wrong?” 

Coulson ran up to her, screaming, “ _ Daisy! Daisy! Daisy! _ ” 

  
  


“What’s wrong?” Yo-Yo asked. 

“May put your phone in airplane mode, but it’s not flying!” 


	9. Foster Kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never a dull moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I missed last week's upload because I wasn't feeling well and decided to skip it. Also, apparently all I can write now are child fics (I am trash for this fandom). Here's the link to the other one if you're interested/have nothing to do/need something to read:
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/25156972/chapters/6095981
> 
> And finally, this chapter does have Daisy saying the f-word and is also un-betaed, just fyi (unfortunately, Yo-Yo is not around to collect for the swear jar).

“THE LIGHT IS GREEN, DAISY!” screamed May, strapped into her carseat in the back of Daisy’s car. Daisy knew that the light was green, because she had been staring at it, waiting for it to change for an eternity.

“Thank you,” she said, wincing at the screech in May’s voice.

“DAISY GO FASTER!” Coulson shouted, pointing ahead.

“That would be illegal.”

“THE BLACK CAR IS GETTING AWAY! WE HAVE TO CATCH IT!”

“We’re the black car, Coulson. That’s a mirror.”

“THROW A TURTLE SHELL!”

“Those don’t exist in real life.”

“WE’RE GOING TO CRASH!”

“We are not going to crash.”

“DAISY - “

“Why don’t we play the quiet game?” Daisy interrupted. She was gripping the steering wheel so tightly she was worried it would break and she was this close to pulling over, calling a Quinjet, and going back to the base. She really didn’t think it would be this hard.

Daisy winced as she saw a sign telling people to keep their eyes on the road. Texting and driving? More like toddlers and driving. Besides, this was the fastest they had gone since they entered the city. There was barely any road to see, what with taxis and cars and trucks and pedestrians. Traffic was a nightmare.

On the bright side, the quiet game seemed to be working. Neither May or Coulson had said a word in the past ten seconds, which Daisy counted as a win. Their hotel was only a few miles away, and she couldn’t blame the kids for having endless bouts of energy. The city was bustling all around them. There was beauty in it, the way New York City was like a battery, lighting up the people in it.

Daisy hadn’t realized just how much she missed this place.

“Okay, guys, we’re here,” she said, pulling inside the parking garage. She opened her window as she drove up. She’d have to pay for parking. Damn. After knowing what she knew about the SHIELD financial situation, Daisy didn’t want to put any more strain on the system. She took out some cash from her wallet and carefully inserted it into the machine. It accepted the bills and opened the gate.

She had to drive up four levels before she found an open spot that she could barely fit into. It would have to do. (At least she wasn’t driving Lola - Coulson would insist she find the best parking space, which was probably at the top of this very tall building).

Daisy leaned back against her headrest for a minute, then turned, remembering she had a two-year-old and a three-year-old in the backseat. She’d have to remember the quiet game when they get back to base.

Two pairs of innocent eyes stare at her, lips zipped.

“Quiet game’s over,” she said, strengthening herself for the noise that only these children could produce.

Coulson gasped, eyes bulging almost comically as he announced, “Everyone except Daisy won!”

“I wasn’t playing,” Daisy informed him as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

“Yeah, you were. Right, May?” Coulson asked, nudging her with his elbow.

May didn’t reply.

Daisy put her head in her hands, a feeling of dread pooling in the pit of her stomach.

Two things did not change when Melinda May became two years old: one, she was still very, very competitive. You challenge her to any sort of game or contest, and you better get ready to lose (either the game, or your life). And two, she was silent only when she wanted to be. Especially if it was to make a point.

“May, you won,” Daisy said, her voice muffled by her palms. She ignored Coulson’s look of incredulity as he opened his mouth to protest that he won too.

May didn’t make a sound.

“Fuck,” Daisy whispered.

  
\- - -

The next morning, May still wasn’t talking.

Daisy had arranged that they stay for two nights. She had no idea how long May was going to keep up her quiet game. But they were supposed to see Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, and Stark Tower (Yo-Yo insisted ‘for the pictures!’) so Daisy figured it would probably attract at least some attention if an otherwise happy-looking toddler with an outfit that put the SHIELD costume warehouse to shame refused to speak when she glared menacingly at pigeons.

The entire reason why they chose a city with eight million people living in it was not to attract attention.

But as it turned out, Daisy didn’t have to be worried.

As soon as she got the toddlers dressed (Coulson in a red polo with blue shorts and a fedora he insisted upon wearing, and May in a rainbow T-shirt, a black skirt, and a rainbow headband attached to a pink daisy with a skull in the center) and out of their hotel room, May lit up.

She waved at everyone passing them by, responded to every smile with a bubbly ‘Good morning!’ and dared to hug the elevator operator. Daisy wasn’t sure whether to be surprised or grateful.

On their way to the ‘customary continental breakfast,’ Simmons (featuring Fitz, Hunter, and Yo-Yo) called.

“How’s everything going? Is May speaking again?” she asked.

Daisy glanced at May and Coulson, who were politely requesting a million pancakes from a stunned employee on the other side of the room. “She’s a social butterfly. It’s so weird. She wasn’t talking at all last night, even managed to get through a reading of Captain America without asking for the one with Peggy Carter, and this morning, she’s waving to everyone and hugging the staff and freaking me out. Coulson’s fine, he’s just been tagging along with her as usual. Oh, wait - hang on a sec - ”

Daisy put her phone to her chest and rushed over just as Coulson was about to take four mini boxes of cereal (the chef had already come out to tell them personally that they did not serve a million pancakes, much to May’s disappointment).

“Daisy! I got Cheerios!”

“Cheerio to you too, mate,” Hunter said over the phone.

Coulson brightened. “Is that Hunter?”

“Yeah. Why don’t we leave the cereal here and go get May and then you can talk to the team,” Daisy suggested. Coulson nodded and crawled under the table. May came out balancing at least five different cups of orange juice on different parts of her body. Daisy opened her mouth to explain that she only needed one cup, but thought the better of it.

“I can take these,” a woman offered. Standing next to her was a teenage girl, who grinned at May and said,

“I love your headband!”

“Thank you!” May replied.

Daisy smiled gratefully as the woman helped Daisy put all of the (thankfully still full) cups of juice back on the table. “Foster kids. Never a dull moment.”

“How did you - ” Daisy began, wanting to ask _how did you know I’m a foster kid?_ but remembered that right now, she looked like the adult. Right now, she looked like Coulson and May’s mom. She nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat. “Yeah.”

“I’m Rebecca,” the girl was saying to Coulson and May. “What are your names?”

“I’m May. And that’s Coul - ” May started.

“Cole,” Daisy interrupted, putting a gentle hand on May’s shoulder. May looked up at Daisy, confused, but Daisy gave her a look. Later. May nodded almost imperceptibly. “May and Cole. Do you guys still want to talk to… Uncle Hunter and everyone else?”

“Uncle Hunter!” May cheered.

“We’ll leave you to it,” the woman said.

“Bye!” Rebecca called, giving them a fluttery fingered wave.

“What just happened?” Fitz asked as Daisy put the phone back to her ear and hustled May and Coulson out of the room while grabbing a few breakfast bars and bananas.

“Nothing important,” Daisy replied, the woman’s words ringing in her ears. _Foster kids. Never a dull moment_. “Um, do you still want to talk to the kids?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo... thoughts? Questions? Screaming? All of the above?


	10. In Which New York Was Not A Good Idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In Daisy's defense, it wasn't the *worst* idea ever. Just not a good one. 
> 
> or, Daisy, Coulson, and May explore New York City and May becomes a YouTube hit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me??? Updating fics with chapters I promised literally months ago but continued to procrastinate???
> 
> But to recap - pandemic is still getting worse, presidential election happened, I started up school again (this time online which makes things much harder), I had several existential crises, and I was almost evacuated due to wildfires. So that's why I didn't post this. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this (long overdue) update <3

“Daisy! You promised park next!” Coulson cried, stamping his foot on the ground as Daisy hailed a taxi. She _had_ told them that they would go to the park after they visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, but then May had disappeared for nearly two and a half hours. Eventually, a frantic Daisy had found her climbing up the freaking _torch_. Considering the tight security, the 20 story climb to crown of the Statue, and the fact that children under four feet tall weren’t allowed to climb to the crown, and no one was allowed to climb out of it, Daisy didn’t know how May had managed to enter the place, much less get to the top.

She got a few pictures of Coulson and May in front of the Statue for Yo-Yo, and one picture of May waving from the very top (not that it was a good one) but unfortunately, someone else had too. 

Bobbi had called, not pleased with Daisy’s explanation when ‘Little Kid Climbs The Statue of Liberty!!!!!’ hit YouTube. Luckily, SHIELD managed to erase the video, and with a few minutes in a coffee shop with free Wi-Fi and a toddler sugar crash, it was scrubbed completely from the Internet, but it had already been seen by hundreds of thousands of people. Clearly, staying low profile was not May’s idea of a good time. 

“May promised to stay with me the entire time,” Daisy muttered, gritting her teeth as someone else got the taxi. “I’m pretty sure Yo-Yo can skip out on a few photos of you at Central Park.” 

“Sorry, Daisy,” May said, hanging her head. 

Daisy sighed. She couldn’t stay mad at May for long. Even if May was a havoc-wreaking ninja demon of a toddler. And Yo-Yo would _not_ be happy to skip out on a few photos of the kids at Central Park, despite Daisy’s offhand comment. She refused to say what she wanted with all of the pictures and everyone knew how stupid it was to blackmail May (that was just _asking_ for her to murder you) but Hunter hadn’t been able to find out anything in his recent investigations. 

“Can we go to the park?” Coulson asked. 

May looked up at Daisy hopefully. 

Daisy sighed. 

\--- 

“What is it like when you die?” Coulson asked on the drive to Central Park. “Do you turn into a statue? Or dust? Or a hamster?” 

“Or do you just melt to the ground like a popsicle?” May wondered. 

The taxi driver glanced at Daisy. She gave an embarrassed smile. “Well, you certainly don’t _melt._ ” 

“Do you - ” Coulson began. 

“Look!” Daisy interrupted, gesturing out Coulson’s window at Central Park. It was _huge._ She had never been to Central Park before, despite living in New York for a while, and she definitely didn’t expect it to be so big, though to be fair, Daisy wasn’t really sure what she had been expecting. 

“Here we are,” the driver said, pulling over to drop them off. Daisy smiled at him gratefully. 

“Thanks,” she said, handing him some money. She poked May lightly, nodding to the driver. “What do we say?” 

“Thank you!” May chirped. Coulson echoed her response, beaming at him. 

“Cute kids,” he told her. 

“Thanks,” Daisy said. She got out of the car, then pulled open the door for May and Coulson once she got around to the other side. She grabbed her backpack (filled with water, snacks, her phone, cash, sunscreen, Captain America comic books, and Koa the koala) from the middle seat, then waved at the driver as he drove away, mostly for Coulson and May’s benefit. 

May squealed with delight and ran to go play on one of the many playgrounds, and Coulson followed her. Daisy swore softly to herself - she had been wanting to reapply sunscreen because Simmons would kill her if they got sunburned. She ran after them, even though May and Coulson had already reached the playground and were (predictably) climbing to the top of the play structure. After this morning’s fiasco with the Statue of Liberty, Daisy didn’t really want them climbing _anything._

“Coulson! May!” she called. “Come here, please!” 

“Daisy, look!” May yelled from the top, waving at her. “I’m at the top!” 

“Scooch over,” Coulson said. May sighed and sat down, then inched toward the center of the tower-like structure that they were sitting on, which was the tallest thing besides the trees in the area. He grabbed her hand and clutched it as he slowly maneuvered to the side. “I don’t think this is safe.” 

“It isn’t!” Daisy agreed. “Come here, we need sunscreen!” 

A woman looked at her with pity. 

Daisy sighed. She could at least get a picture of them for Yo-Yo while she was up on the playground, though, so maybe it wasn’t all bad. Yo-Yo would definitely owe her for these. They were taking up a ridiculous amount of storage on her phone, and she was still getting requests for more. Apparently FitzSimmons had nearly fainted at the video of May at the top of the Statue of Liberty. Hunter had promised to pull security footage when the drill was over and show it to Daisy when she got back with the toddlers. 

She tied her jacket around her waist and put her backpack straps on her shoulders, then walked up to the playground. “Hey, guys, come get sunscreen!” 

Coulson slid down, and so did May, but she disappeared a second later. 

Daisy knew her priorities. If she got the sunscreen on Coulson now, she could figure out how to get May later. 

Hopefully without calling in Bobbi. 

\---

May slid off the tower. She _hated_ sunscreen. It was sticky and icky and gross-feeling. And it was always cold, too. May didn’t like being cold. She didn’t like being hot either, but being cold was the _worst._ No matter how many jackets she wore, if she was cold, she was ice cold. 

Her only idea now was to hide. 

The easiest place was a bush covered in thorns. 

It was also the only place besides the trees and May couldn’t get up there yet. But that hadn’t stopped her at the Statue. 

May stumbled across the grass. She couldn’t reach the first branch, even if she stood on her tippy toes, but that didn’t matter. May was good at climbing things she wasn’t supposed to. Even if Daisy had been mad afterwards, it was fun and somehow, being on top of the world felt familiar. Like touching the sky was home. And it was easy, as long as she didn’t look down or slip or get scared or fall or remember that Coulson wasn’t up there with her to catch her if she fell. 

The tree was very big and it had lots of leaves. 

“How did you get up here?” hissed a voice from above her. 

May swiveled, ignoring the butterflies in her stomach when she did. 

A girl, a little bit older than May was, dropped down to her branch. She had very curly orange hair and very pale skin, almost like a ghost. Her eyes were greenish-brown, like if the leaves and the branches of the tree were mixed together. She was taller than May, but May was also short. She was super skinny too, kind of like a skeleton. 

Skeleton-ghost-orange-tree girl narrowed her eyes like Bobbi did sometimes. May mirrored her expression. “What’s your name?” 

“I’ll answer your question, but you have to tell me who you are _and_ how you got up here. Especially ‘cause you’re pretty short and you definitely aren’t tall enough to reach the branch on the ground,” skeleton-ghost-orange-tree girl offered. May didn’t know whether or not she was supposed to be offended. She decided on not. She liked skeleton-ghost-orange-tree girl’s T-shirt. It had black unicorns on it. 

“Okay,” May agreed. 

“I’m Liz, but not like Elizabeth, like Lizard,” skeleton-ghost-orange-tree girl introduced herself. She held out a hand. 

May ignored it because she didn’t trust Liz, even if she liked her shirt. “I’m May. It’s my second name, but Bobbi and Daisy and Coulson and everybody else call me May anyways.” 

Liz nodded. “Okay. How did you get up here, May?” 

“I climbed.” 

“Okay,” Liz said as if that was a perfectly acceptable answer and not weird or vague at all. Maybe it wasn’t weird or vague. Which was good. May liked it when she wasn’t weird. Being vague was fun, but not weird. But she didn’t like normal. Sort of weird, but also sort of normal. A mix. May liked mixes. Everyone was happy and no one fought when there were mixes of what everyone wanted. She didn’t understand why more people didn’t get mixes. 

“How come your hair is orange?” 

“How come your hair is black?” 

“It isn’t black, it’s blackish-brownish.” 

“Well, mine is orangish-reddish.” 

“Shhh!” May whispered as she caught sight of Daisy walking over to their tree. 

“Is that your mommy?” 

“Kinda. She wants to put sunscreen on me.” 

Liz nodded understandingly. “Follow me!” 

May did follow her up the tree. It was easier to climb than the torch because there was more for her feet to stick to (Mack used a special word for it, but May didn’t remember), but she was careful anyway. Liz was just tall enough to reach the branches, but May had to scramble up the trunk like a monkey. 

Monkey. 

May paused. She knew that word had something to do with one of her family - Fitz. It had something to do with Fitz. Monkey. Fitz. What connected them? 

“May, please!” Daisy called up the tree. “I can see you! And your friend!” 

“Dumb hair,” Liz muttered. She peeked over her branch. “Hi, May’s mommy!”  
  


“Hi. May, can you please come down here? It will be a piece of cake, I promise,” Daisy pleaded. “Come on, if you don’t, I have to get Bobbi.” 

“Who’s Bobbi?” 

May shook her head to rid herself of the thought of monkeys - why couldn’t she shake the feeling that it was important? - and glanced down at Daisy. She looked sad. May didn’t like it when Daisy was sad. Was May making her sad? That would be really, really bad. Hunter made her promise to be good on this trip. May probably wasn’t being good. Then Daisy and Hunter would be sad. And if Hunter was sad, then Bobbi would be mad, and nobody liked it when Bobbi was mad. 

“I’m coming,” she relented. 

“I’ll come too,” Liz declared. 

“Who’s this?” Daisy asked when May and Liz got to the ground. 

“Liz.” 

“Where’s your mom, Liz?” 

“I don’t have one,” Liz said, shrugging.

“Okay, what about your dad?” 

“Oh, they’re over there,” Liz said, pointing to two men sitting on a bench. One of them was on a laptop, most likely working, and the other waved at Daisy, Liz, and May. Daisy waved back. May held her face up and Daisy knelt down to the ground with a stick of sunscreen in her hand. She carefully applied it on May’s face with one hand and rubbed it in with the other. It was cold. 

But this time, May didn’t mind. 

\---

“Wanna play a game?” Daisy heard Coulson asked Liz. He was, as usual, very polite to the ‘skeleton-ghost-orange-tree girl I met in a tree’ (May’s introduction). “It’s Mack’s favorite game.”  
  
“Who’s Mack?” Liz wondered. 

“He’s sort of like our...” Coulson trailed off. “I dunno. He isn’t a mammal, though. Fitz said you have to have hair to be a mammal. Maybe he’s a fish.” 

“You guys have a weird family.” 

May shrugged. “Yeah, but you don’t have a Daisy. Or a Bobbi. Or a Hunter or a Fitz” - she seemed to have difficulty making the _tz_ sound and after several tries, settled for _Fizz_ \- “or a Simmons or a Mack or a Yo-Yo or Piper or Davis or everybody. So that makes your family weird, ‘cause ours is normal and we love them.” 

Daisy bit her lip. How did these kids manage to give her twelve heart attacks and then melt her heart in one day? 

Liz shrugged. “What’s the game?” 

“Duck duck goose,” Daisy replied. “Who wants to be the first goose?” 

Coulson’s hand shot into the air. She smiled and nodded at him. He leaped up and began running in circles, singing _duck, duck, goose_ in delight before he (predictably) chose May for goose. Daisy noticed one of Liz’s fathers taking video as Coulson barely beat her, sliding into her spot just as her tiny hand brushed his. 

She skipped around the circle until she picked Daisy, who let her win. Laughing, she pushed herself off the ground after a fake fall and went around the circle of kids twice before lightly patting Liz’s head. 

“Will you send me that video?” Daisy asked while the kids were off playing whatever game. 

“Sure,” Liz’s dad said, telling her his number. “If you’re ever near New York, text us. Liz would love to meet up.” 

Daisy smiled, trying to ignore the voice in her head telling her that if May and Liz got to meet up again, May - the real May - would be gone. “That’d be great.” 

\---

Coulson held her hand as they got off the Quinjet, Daisy half-dragging him with her while May was asleep on her back. Her legs were securely wrapped around Daisy’s chest and her arms around Daisy’s neck while Coulson’s eyelids were already drooping. 

“Daisy!” Fitz called, running up to them. Daisy held a finger to her lips - Melinda May was a disaster the second she was woken up from her nap. He sighed impatiently. “You’re needed in Coul - in Bobbi’s office. Now.” 

“Can I put the kids to bed first? They’re exhausted,” she said. 

Fitz shook his head. “They’re needed too. Come on.”

“Wanna go sleep,” Coulson muttered beside her. 

“I know, buddy. Here, Fitz can carry you,” Daisy instructed, and Fitz nodded before letting Coulson get on his back. 

They walked to Bobbi’s office and received a few small smiles and waves from agents passing by, including Piper and Davis, who both got out their phones to take pictures. Daisy smiled back and Coulson waved slightly, his head against Fitz’s shoulder. 

“They’re waiting for you,” said the agent outside Bobbi’s door. Daisy mouthed _who?_ at Fitz, but he didn’t reply. 

She opened the door and walked inside. “Bobbi, if this is about the Statue of Liberty - ” 

Daisy froze. 

An old couple were inside, one of them with a strikingly familiar glare and the other with a name Daisy knew - _William May_. 

They were both talking to Bobbi, who looked exhausted. Mack, Yo-Yo, and Simmons were all standing around the room. Hunter was by Bobbi’s side, a protective hand on her shoulder. 

“You must be Daisy,” William said. 

\---

Daisy closed her mouth and swallowed, blinking twice to make sure this was real. “I am.” 

“Which means that’s Mellie,” he sighed. 

“I thought you were kidding,” the woman, who had to be Lian May, bristled. 

“We weren’t,” Hunter replied in a somewhat defensive tone. 

“How did you…” Daisy struggled to find words. 

“My daughter has not responded to any of my calls in weeks,” Lian said promptly. “I came down here to find her. William insisted upon coming, seeing as she is his daughter as well.” 

“Ms. May, Mr. May, we are doing our best to reverse this, but - ” Simmons began. 

“ - but you can’t yet, otherwise you would have done it by now,” May’s mother finished. “I am familiar with SHIELD protocols.”

Bobbi sighed. “Like I said, we can tell you as much as we know given your clearance level. But we ask that you don’t go to the CIA or anyone in the intelligence community with this.” 

Lian and William seemed to consider it before they nodded. “Whatever you can do to bring Mellie back,” he said. 

Hunter raised a hand. “... Mellie?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know we only saw her in canon for like two minutes but I would die for Lian May.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave kudos if you feel this merits them, and comments because I live off of them!


End file.
